This invention relates generally to aircraft ejection seats and, in particular, to the use of an inflatable seat cushion acting as an insert or liner element for the ejection seat and inflatable to place the pilot or other occupant in a backward tilt configuration for increased protection against high g forces occurring particularly during the high speed maneuvering of fighter aircraft.
The problem of protecting the pilot and crew from the high g forces associated particularly with high speed aircraft flight has been under consideration for many years. One solution has been to equip the pilot and aircrew with an anti-g suit which is currently worn in conventional fighter aircraft. A second solution is to actually increase the angle of the aircraft seat to the rear in order to overcome the usual effects of high g loads. One line of development involved the rotation to the rear of the entire seat. However, this proved to be unsatisfactory since this technique resulted in the dropping of the pilot's or other aircrew member's head and therefore line of vision to a disadvantageously low position in the cockpit making good visibility impossible particularly in the forward direction.
A second attempted solution to the foregoing problem was concerned with the use of a mechanical linkage means as an insert or liner to the main seat, the purpose of which being to move the actual seat portion being occupied in an upward and forward direction while, simultaneously, tilting the back portion of the seat to the rear. This technique suffers from the quite significant disadvantage of requiring a whole new seat involving a research and development program estimated to cost from between 6 to 7 million dollars. The obvious unsatisfactory nature of the foregoing attempted solution to the problem of providing protection against the high g forces of high speed aircraft flight maneuvering led to the new, novel and yet greatly simplified technique proposed by the present invention which technique offers a greatly improved system as will appear self-evident in the following summary and detailed disclosure thereof.